Stories and otter things

Saturday, 22 September 2012

Beyond Boycie

Confession, my enthusiasm for Only Fools and Horses dimished quickly after the first couple of series, as for me it became more sentimental and less funny. So I was familiar with the character of Boycie, played by the actor John Challis, without him being somebody who as figured large in my life. But recently joined the Croydon Waterstones book group, and through that got invited along to the launch of Boycie and Beyond, the second installment of John's autobiography. It turned out to be lots of fun.

I went with no expectations, actually I expected John to be some braying Sarf London comedian, with a bag of dodgy jokes. In fact he was a charming, thoughtful man, a much gentler personality than his role would suggest. I said as much to the person standing next to me. They were generous enough not to remind me that John Challis is an actor and Only Fools and Horses was not a fly on the wall documentry.